


Patrolling the Normandy

by CavannaRose



Series: Mass Effect Stories [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff, Fun, Laughter, Plotbunnies, Some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-08-12 00:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7912864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CavannaRose/pseuds/CavannaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Disjointed interludes as Wrex and Shepard support each other on the Normandy. I will continue to add to it as the scenes come to me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She was not, by any description of the word, beautiful. Her face too angular, her nose, once broken, had a distinctly beaky quality to it. Nor was she particularly handsome, a term often applied to women with strong features. Commander Shepard was far too scarred to fall under that category even. Striking. That was, perhaps, the best term to describe her. Despite it all, there was something about her that drew people. Perhaps it was that aura of competence and confidence she exuded. Perhaps it was the fact that she wasn't concerned by her appearance. Whatever it was, even the Krogan admitted she had a certain appeal.

They all watched her, though none with quite the dogged devotion of Alenko and the Asari. Wrex was too old to go gallivanting off after some squishy young thing, and Garrus... well he had never even considered a cross-species liaison before, though he found himself considering such options late at night in his bunk. It wasn't that he was attracted to humans, none of the other female crew members haunted his dreams like the stiff-spined commander. She was the epitome of military perfection. Cold and hard on the battle field. She hadn't even hesitated when she ordered Ashley to her death. The job had to be done, no matter the cost.

There were whispers about her, that she had put her heart away when her colony on Mindoir was wiped out. That she had viewed the Alliance soldiers as the pinnacle of perfection, and strove to attain that beyond any other motivation. She had managed it too. Her service record a blaze of glory, from the Skylian Blitz right down to the disaster on Akuze. She'd survived, over and over again. When all others around her died, Shepard always seemed to come out. Things like that shadowed a person, but you wouldn't know it to watch her. She was simply the Commander. Ever unwavering.

On closer inspection, the Commander had several odd and persistent habits. After every planetside mission, no matter how small, she walked the ship. Every deck. Every room. From Engineering to the men's lavatory, it didn't matter. She spoke to every person aboard the ship, checking in with them, asking them questions. She had a memory like a steel trap, asking for stories of his grandfather from XO Pressly, making sarcastic commentary at Joker in the cockpit, and closing herself in medical for hours with Dr Chakwas. Liara said it was a sign she cared, but Wrex thought perhaps she was searching for weaknesses. She'd argued with Nihlus and Anderson, and the rank of Spectre seemed to sit heavy on her shoulders. It should have been worn like a badge of pride, but instead she mostly ignored it to focus on her crew, her mission. She knew what they were risking, she knew how perfect they had to be.

This walking the decks, it was almost compulsive. Ceremonial. After Williams died, she continued to stop in the space the human soldier was most often found, as if honouring her memory, even if she refused to discuss the loss. Kaiden tried to bring it up with her, idiot kid. The Krogan was pleased when Shepard rebuffed the approach. A strong commander showed no weakness before her crew. That was why he followed her. That unshakable strength. That unwavering commitment to her cause. He'd admired her when she stood up to the human and the Turian, but when she scoped him out down the barrel of her pistol, that had changed everything. The human barely came to the middle of his chest, but he had backed down, bit out half a threat, but even then... he knew he'd never follow through. She'd hooked him, though he wasn't sure how. Somewhere in those piercing green eyes she'd caught his number, and he had fallen.

He took to watching her, to trailing her as she made her rounds of the ship, A giant, Krogan-shaped shadow. If the crew noticed, they had far more sense than to mention it. Wrex never lost that look of fierce dislike, the Commander never lost her cold professionalism. It was unsettling enough that a few of the junior officers tried to make jokes about it to make themselves feel better. The one young man only got half way through comparing the Krogan to a rabid Saint Bernard when the blue lash of biotics knocked him against the wall. Shepard paused, turned, raised an eyebrow at the old Krogan. Wrex simply shrugged. They continued on their rounds, like nothing had happened, but the joking stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

She kept watching him. Quietly, when no one knew that the Commander was watching, or so she hoped. She liked listening to his voice, when he did speak. The deep, gravelly tones rumbled deep from his chest and shook her bones to their core. The Krogan were predators, and everything about his rough demeanor shouted that to the world. The way he moved, the sounds he made, they made her pulse race with just a touch of that fight or flight instinct, the one she chased like some kind of adrenaline junkie. Perhaps that's what appealed to her about the man.

Shepard's life was violence, always had been from the first day the slaver's showed up in Mindoir and left her on her own. She'd admired the Alliance patrol that had rescued her, emulated them as best she could in her career... at least she had until the Tragedy. The one no one spoke about in a voice above a whisper, at least not when she was still in the room. It was as if they thought she was oblivious, as if she never caught the hushed comments of "Akuze" murmured whenever she did something particularly crazy, or when she bit back a sharp retort at a commanding officer.

She was used to being the last soldier standing, and the Commander wouldn't let the whispers shake her. She knew the truth. Shepard was a survivor, no matter the cost. If the choice was coming down to fight or die, she'd fight every damn time. A smirk twitched at the corner of her mouth. He'd said it made her almost as good as a Krogan, but then they'd been really drunk that night... drunk enough that those words were the last clear memories she had of the evening. The rest was a blur of barely comprehensible images, blurry at the edges, unfamiliar smells and sore places that hinted at Very Bad Decisions. Most telling of all was a rather large bite mark somewhere intimate enough that it had no chance of showing with her clothes on. Of the entire blank evening, she most regretted not knowing how that had come about.

Right now he had pieces of his armor piled beside him, taking them one by one and polishing them to a gleam before snapping them back into place. She could almost picture the scowl on his face, though she couldn't see it from her current vantage point beneath the Mako. There was something caught up under the axle, though she was spending more time admiring the massive expanse of Wrex's back and shoulders. She stifled a chuckle as the Krogan's stub of a tail slowly _wagged_ in contentment. The tail stopped moving. "You know I can smell you down there, don't you Shepard?"

Since he couldn't see her, Shepard gave in to the impulse and pulled a face at him, coupled with a rude gesture. "Exactly how good _is_ a Krogan's sense of smell, anyway?"

"Good enough," Wrex grunted. Used to the terse Krogan's lack of superfluous commentary, she expected that to be the end of things. Shepard was pleasantly surprised when Wrex continued. "I can smell Alenko and Williams cooking some weird human whatever in the mess. Liara is in her office..." he snickered. "You probably don't want to know what she's doing... Do you?"

"Okay! I get it!" Shepard laughed, pulling herself out from under the vehicle with a grin. "Krogans have a far superior sense of smell when compared with our pathetic human olfactory abilities."

"Those are some pretty big words there Shepard, you sure you know what they all mean?" Wrex was clearly smiling now. "But of course Krogans are naturally superior to humans..." there was the slightest pause and he slid his eyes over to watch her sit down beside him. "Superior to most humans anyway."

Chuckling again, Shepard picked up a rag and another piece of armor and began polishing it. The pair fell into a companionable silence, broken only by the sound the armor plates made when Wrex buckled the pieces back into the frame of his armor. When they were done, Shepard stood up and dusted off the seat of her breeches. Surprisingly, Wrex spoke up, stopping the Commander. "So, we're not gonna talk about the other night? I figured that's why you've been creeping about like a hungry varren."

Shepard arched an eyebrow at the Krogan, intrigued, and a little uncomfortable. "Did... Did you want to to talk about it, Wrex?"

The large warrior scowled, grunting. Shepard wasn't sure if it was laughter or discomfort, and she wouldn't risk a single credit betting either way. He shuffled the rags around, putting the unused ones back in their bin. "Not particularly, no."

Shepard wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed. This was not her area of expertise, and she didn't even remember what they had done, or if there was something to talk about. She pushed back all the conflicting waves of emotion and stepped a little closer to the Krogan. "To be fair, I was pretty drunk. Did you want to repeat the experiment, sober this time?"

Surprise painted itself across the old Krogan's face, followed by a calculating appraisal. "You think that you'd be up to that, Shepard?" There was a note of challenge in his voice, but it lacked all of his usual surety.

Playfully she growled, tossing the rag in her hand at him. Catching it, Wrex grinned at the Commander. "We better use my bunk, yours has too much breakable shit in it." With that he scooped the woman up, and the laughing pair headed off, much to the horror and delight of the few crew members who witnessed their passage.


	3. Chapter 3

Sometimes she was insecure. She looked into the expanse of space before them, and questioned it all. In the grand scheme of things they were so small. Her. The Crew. The Normandy. The Human Race. Even if you combined all the Council races, add in the Batarians, the Geth, and even the damn Elcor... What were they in the face of the Reapers? They couldn't even find fucking Saren.

Cursing she slammed her fist into the bulwark, her hand pausing in place, her forehead coming to rest against it. It was all Shepard could do not to cry in frustration. She was supposed to be the First Human Spectre. Humanity's Greatest and Best Hope. How could she deal with that kind of pressure and not crack? She wasn't a leader, she was a fucking soldier! She followed orders and she survived. She certainly wouldn't have put herself in charge of the lives of others after what happened on Akuze.

Maybe just this once she could indulge in a good, self-indulgent cry. No one was around... The idea of giving in to her defeat for a moment was whisked away by the sound of the door opening, and Shepard turned. Very few of the crew approached her when she was in the Captain's Quarters. Of all the downsides involved in being in charge, that she appreciated at least. A few stolen moments to herself, a place to keep those stupid ship models she was so obsessed with collecting for reasons that her Krogan companion called 'human nonsense'.

Speaking of, the Commander should have known that Wrex would be the one to interrupt her quiet and unscheduled breakdown. He stood there by the door, arms crossed, his customary scowl full in place. "Shepard! You were supposed to meet me in the cargo bay ten minutes ago to work on your defenses against biotics. What are you..."

He trailed off as she tried to disguise the fact she was wiping the beginning of tears off her face before she turned around. Apparently he wasn't fooled. He crossed the room and as she turned her face up to meet his gaze he simply tugged her into a hug. The discomfort of his armor against her face was somehow comforting and she wrapped her own arms as far around him as she could reach and allowed herself a small, defeated sob.

"Don't break on us now, Shepard. You're the one holding this ridiculous group of aliens together."

Choking down a second sob, one was plenty, she pressed her forehead against Wrex's chest plate. "What if I'm not enough, Wrex? I'm not as tough as a Krogan, or as agile as an Asari, as skilled as a Turian, or as smart as a Salarian. I'm just a dumb human soldier who was in the wrong place at the right time once too often."

The big Krogan picked her up and stood her in front of him, catching her chin with one hand and meeting her eyes with his own. "That's bullshit and you know it. You are as fierce as any Krogan, you've even beaten me hand-to-hand, you can dodge bullets as fast as Liara, you can outshoot Garrus, and no one may be as clever as those damn Salarian bastards, but even Tali says you're a deft hand with the tech and Quarians are nearly as good as the Salarians. You've got skill, Shepard, and better you have luck on your side. If you start doubting yourself now then you're not only stupid, but you're failing all these people who have faith in you. Keep the faith, Shepard. I know you won't disappoint me."

The Commander caught her lip between her teeth. His words were harsh, but she could feel the affection in them. He wanted her to believe, and he was doing his best to shake the soldier inside her back into action. Ashley would have talked about God, Tali and Garrus would have spoken of Duty, but Wrex... he just believed in her. She stepped up to him, went on tiptoe and placed a gentle kiss just below his mouth. Traditional human mouth-to-mouth kisses did not work with aliens whose mouths were as big as your whole damn head. Still, he reached out, running rough fingers through her short hair, comforting her the way you would an anxious pet, and she laughed.

"I hate to tell you, Wrex, but I think your methods of comfort leave a lot to be desired." She stepped away, swatting at the big alien playfully.

He grunted, eyes shining with amusement. "Perhaps for some soft-skinned pyjak, but they always seem to work on you, Shepard. I wonder what that suggest about the first human Spectre..."

With a loud exclamation of indignation, Shepard turned and flung herself bodily at Wrex, hard enough to make the Krogan stagger with surprise, but he caught her, spinning her around once before carrying her towards the bed. "I told you that you were tough, but now I'm going to break a bunch of your fragile human things while I prove it again."

Chuckling at her favourite alien, she peppered his face with kisses and hoped she had enough credits to replace the clock and the bedside table... and maybe the bed. Again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I keep wanting to write drabbles with Wrex and Shepard, sorry not sorry, even if they’re not that great. XD Warning for language and suggestion of kink maybe at the end? No actual smut.

They were creeping through a Batarian compound, quiet as possible for a heavily armored squad consisting of a human, a Krogan, and a Turian. It was strange enough to see the three races together, even now, but in their matching army, with their silence broken by hand signals and the whir of finely maintained motorized joints, it was clear these three were used to working as a unit. The silence didn't, on the other hand, extend to their comm units, and anyone listening might have some... questions.

"So Shepard," the Turian whispered into the comm, "I had the oddest conversation with XO Pressly the other day. He was so shaken he forgot to call me Alien and used my name."

"Garrus!" The human whispered forcefully, "is this really the right time to be having this conversation?"

A quiet chuckle came from the first speaker. "Why not? It's a private channel. Anyway, so Pressly comes up to me the other day, gives me a once over and then kind of deflates. Says to me 'I thought you and the Commander had a thing, that I could tolerate. But the Krogan?' I thought he might pass out, but he just walked away muttering something about asking the med bay for damage reports. Any idea what that's about?"

The Krogan behind the two muffled a chuckle, eliciting a glare from Shepard between the two, though beneath her helmet it was hard to tell. "It's not funny! I knew there would be an impact on the crew, but I should have really considered before we were so indiscreet as to..."

"Let the xenophobe worry at the issue like a starving varren, Shepard. You're a good leader, and if he can't see that over who you bump uglies with, then maybe you need a new XO." Wrex shrugged his massive shoulders, a gesture rendered less effective by the fact that no one was looking in his direction at the moment.

"Bumping uglies... what an odd phrase, where'd you hear that one?" The Turian sounded honestly curious, and Shepard between them made a hissing noise.

"We are trying to creep up on about 30 armed Batarians, can you two NOT?" A wave of chatter crackled across the sub channel they were monitoring, and Shepard cursed. "Congrats Tweedledee and Tweedledum, now we get to enter a firefight with thirty Batarians that know we're on our way. I blame both of you."

Despite being the smallest, the human Commander shouldered her way past the Turian, taking off down the hall at a run. Her alien companions shared a look that spoke volumes, then raced off after her, all pretense of subterfuge abandoned. The Batarians were, in fact, waiting for them, and as the three crashed through the side port, bullets and superheated beams came hurtling at their faces.

Shepard dove right, executing a roll that seemed nearly impossible to manage by someone so heavily armored, taking cover behind a decommissioned transport device of some kind. With her back against the crate she dodge around opposing sides in irregular intervals, blasting holes in their opponents with a high-powered shotgun.

Garrus dodged left, finding some large shipping crates to climb so he could set up, taking his time to sight each shot and blasting brains all over the back wall. Shepard had shown him some human art that was reminiscent of the mess he was leaving. Humans had very strange ideas about art, still... maybe he could take some stills with his visor and sell them for extra credits. There was this gun mod he really wanted... A bullet grazed his armored thigh, interrupting his distracted thoughts and forcing him lower on his cover. No time to get distracted, Vakarian.

Wrex took the more direct approach, as Krogans were wont to do. Barreling through the first row of Batarians, he made a large hole in their firing formation with a biotic shock-wave. His laugh echoed in their comms, making Shepard grin, popping up over her cover for another series of shotgun blasts, offering a booming legato counterpoint to the staccato of Wrex's assault rifle. They played the room like a three part harmony, each member of the team used to the best of their abilities. In mere minutes the carnage was over, the remains of the Batarians a pulpy mess on walls and floor, highlighted by shards of substandard armor plating.

Shepard pulled her helmet off, wiping her brow. Garrus had come down from his perch and was checking to see if any of the bodies were intact enough to show life signs. Nodding her appreciation she turned to check on Wrex, only to find herself swept up in big, armored arms. Laughing, the Krogan grinned at her, bringing her close enough to run his big, rough tongue up the side of her face in an approximation of a kiss. Shepard spluttered, but couldn't help grinning like an idiot in response. She slapped his armored chest with a laugh.

"Put me down, you big idiot. We have to find that stolen tech." She pressed her forehead against his for a moment before he let her down to the ground, bending down to whisper in her ear.

"With the smell of blood in the air, and knowing what's under your armor, part of me doesn't know if it wants to fuck you or eat you." Shepard blushed, getting all squirmy on the inside, grabbing the neckplate of his armor and pulling Wrex down for a kiss on the cheek.

"I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW!" Garrus called over to them, his face contorted with concern.

Laughing, the Krogan and the human Spectre separated from one another, looking for the tech with newfound resolve, and a certain amount of discomfort.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus is cranky, Wrex and Shepard are not taking it that seriously though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for how much time these dorks spend laughing. XD

The Turian was furious, and it was everything Shepard could do just to not laugh, looking contrite was completely outside her current capabilities. She sat on the edge of her bed, hands folded in her lap, not watching the way his mandibles clacked furiously as he berated her, pacing back and forth in agitated steps. Finally he stopped in front of the rather unrepentant-looking human. "Of all the CRAZY, IRRESPONSIBLE, RECKLESS stunts you could have pulled!" He spluttered a moment, his emotion momentarily overwhelming his ability to speak. "It was a  _thresher maw_ , Shepard! A  **thresher maw**! We are supposed to be out here investigating a threat to the  _whole damn galaxy_ , and you jaunt off to risk  **life**  and  **limb**  tangling with some massive, man-eating monster... FOR WHAT? Bragging rights?!?!?! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!"

The human Commander did her best not to smile as her friend attempted to catch his breath, deliberately not looking at the fronds of his crest raising with his irritation level. He was just so... cute. Angry, concerned, and absolutely adorable as he stood there berating her. Garrus probably would loathe the comparison, but he reminded her of a posturing pyjack berating a varren for stealing it's food. Instead of revealing her own amusement, she marshaled her self-control and dropped a placating hand on the former C-Sec officer's forearm. "I assure you, Vakarian, it was a strategic... diplomatic move in anticipation of future negotiations with the Krogan."

The Turian squinted at her in suspicious disbelief, was she really going to play it that way? Shepard had almost managed to pull it off too, but Wrex, seeing her faux-innocent face, made a choked totally-a-cough-not-a-laugh type noise from the doorway.  Of it's own accord, Shepard's mouth twitched upwards at one corner, a mirthful light sparkling in her eyes. Garrus threw up his hands and made a rude sound. "HUMANS!" Muttering in exasperation he turned his back on his best friend and headed for the door. Pausing in front of the big Krogan snickering there, he gave Wrex a dose of the old Vakarian glare. "I blame you just as much as her."

Poor Garrus stomped off down the hall to the sound of deep, Krogan laughter, counterpointed by Shepard's unique, gruff chuckle. Wrex shoved himself up off the doorway and moved into the room, admiring the mirthful grin on the Commander's face. "You have got to be the craziest human in space," he cracked a grin. "If you didn't laugh so much I'd say you should've been a Krogan, Shepard. You would have led a female clan, terrifying the young males and pummeling the older ones into dust until you ruled all of Tuchanka." He rumbled down at her, affectionately crowding his way into her personal space the way big dogs used to do to their favourite people on Earth.

Shepard gave Wrex's chest a shove, grunting in pleasure as he shifted back a few inches. She was getting stronger, and a devilish glee took hold of her. Standing up she moved into his personal space. "I still could, you old lizard." She teased, running her hand along the side of his face. "When all this is over, I hear clan Urdnot has a big, fancy pile of rocks that they pretend is a chair."

A hint of the old pain flashed in his eyes, but it was gone just as fast, replaced by a playfulness that few would believe the old Krogan capable of. He growled a challenge at Shepard, and a thrill went through her. How far had they both come, that they could joke and tease about such things? She growled back, launching herself at him with abandon. Not expecting the sudden attack, Wrex was knocked back a few steps further. He teetered back and forth, pretending to lose his balance as they crashed around the doorway, hitting the button that locked the entrance and letting out another laugh. "Oh no, Shepard! I can't find my feet! We're going down!"

Letting out an undignified shriek, Shepard clung for dear life as the massive Krogan pretended to fall forward, dropping them both on the bed, but catching himself before he crushed the Commander. He took in her flushed, laughing face with a look of wonder. "How  _did_  something as tiny as you take out a thresher maw?"

Winking up at him she wriggled a hand free, tugging her collar down to reveal the barely-healed acid scars that splashed across her left shoulder, disappearing down below the fabric. The skin was marbled red and white, twisted and angry. Somehow, it suited her. "Not carefully," she grinned up at Wrex.

Growling his appreciation, the Krogan took hold of Shepard's shirt and tore it, pausing when she made a sound of protest. "That's three this week..." she offered weakly. Baring his teeth in amusement, he ripped the shirt the rest of the way, exposing the entire length of the burn scar. It discoloured her entire shoulder and half of the breast beneath it, dissipating as it trailed almost all the way to her navel. Lust shot through him, tightening his quad in anticipation. This fierce, fragile human kept coming out of the most insane situations, all in one piece. She fired his loins in a way he hadn't felt since he'd passed his first century. Meeting Shepard's eyes, waiting for that little nod of permission, he trailed his tongue along the textured skin of her scar, making the compact killing machine squirm. Her eyes flashed, first with pain, then with a lust that matched his own. Still, the big Krogan paused to check in. "You okay with this?"

Growling in frustration, she punched him lightly just below his head plate. "If you stop now, you scaly bastard, I swear -" she ended in a squeak as the laughing male lightly bit her.

"My female is cranky, I should tend to that." He moved to remove her pants, stopping as he realized she wasn't moving to help, instead she had gone still, head tilted as she gave him an inscrutable look. " . . . Shepard?" he frowned, releasing her hips in consternation.

The impossible Commander quirked her lips into that infuriatingly sexy smirk she wore when she thought she'd won something. " _Your_  female?" Despite the playfulness, there was a hint of vulnerability in the question that Wrex was just macho enough to appreciate.

Still, he was glad that Krogans didn't change colours, or have silly crests to give away when they were feeling flustered. Gruffly, he bluffed his way through the awkward moment. "Damn straight you are."

"Well..." She drew out the word, no more hesitation in her teasing tone, "isn't that interest-" Wrex interrupted by whisking her pants off in a single motion, causing another one of those adorable squeaks. He nuzzled against her soft stomach for a moment, before delving deeper and running his broad tongue over the front of her undergarments. Wriggling with newly-fired need, the first human Spectre lost her train of thought, instead reaching for the nearest buckle holding the Krogan's armor together. Letting out a low chuckle of victory, Wrex moved to help his Shepard's clever fingers divest him of all that nonsense standing between them and nakedness.


End file.
